Wisemans Ferry

[sails]

Hi All,

Roberta and I were at Wisemans Ferry for a family gathering on Saturday, and so the two of us decided to make it a fishing exploration trip as well, as neither of us had ever fished that area before.

I joined Roberta at the NSW Ski Gardens camping grounds and pitched the tent for Sat night.

In the afternoon after the family do, Bert and I got the kayaks out and crossed the river and drifted up the Webb Creek with the incoming tide for about a k or so; she flicking soft plastics and me on hard bodied. Had a fun drift with somef fish showing on the fishfinders. Spooked some fish in the mud, (flatties?) and saw some risings, but no takes on the lures. Chatted with a local on the bank near where we turned back and he informed us that he sees platypus' in the area, which was a surprise to me. Also good sized bass.

Lamb chops, a couple of beers and a bottle of red for dinner shared with the mossies reminded me of how good it is when you are out camping. Very theraputic for the soul. Went to sleep with the sound of outboards on the river and yahoos when a fish was caught.

"Tide 'n knots", (Pete) had offered to show Roberta some of his favorite spots on the river and so we were up early next morning in preparation for the session. Pete picked us up at the camping ground, and we headed off for a look at the river from his tinny. Pete was offering to put us onto his favorite fish, the jewie! Things were looking pretty good when the first catch of the day on Petes' rod was a beautiful little jew, just under legal, which was released after pics, with the expectation of bigger things to come. well, we caught jew after jew, all up about 14 I think, but not a keeper amongst them.

In the afternoon Pete hooked a good flattie to 55cm and a keeper bream and I got a flounder, all of which we put in the keeper bag, before I needed to be dropped off at the camping ground to be collected by me wife.

Pete and Roberta had a break and then headed back out to see if they could crack a keeper, and I will leave that part of the story for them to tell.

Through fishraider you meet some of the nicest people fishing, and Pete is one of them. He looked after us really well, shared some of his secrets spots and showed us a part of the Hawkesbury River we would not have seen otherwise. Thanks Pete, I really enjoyed the fishing and the company. It is beautiful spot and I look forward to getting out there again.

tight lines

Sails

Edited October 27, 2008 by sails

[Dreamtime]

Great report, definately miss the camping bit - too damned hot to sleep in a tent here lol!

Excellent effort from "Tide 'n knots".

Family get together, camping, fishing, meeting new mates - great recipe, for a great weekend!

Cheers

Mariner

[tide'n'knots]

Hi Cam,

I had a great day with yourself and the YAK predetor from the north! Iam just glad YOU had such an enjoyable day. Roberta is going to do a report with some photos when she gets home and settles in - wait til you see the bream we got last night we didnt weigh it, but it must have been pushing 4lb! Roberta and I Laughed for the rest of the night about the exclaimation she made when she first saw it in the light - As this is a family site I cant repeat what she said, only to say that it cracked me up big time.

Hope to catch up soon and have another fish and maybe a bigger jew!

tight lines.

Pete.

[glennmreid]

Glad you had a great time Sails. Sounds like alot of fun. Good on ya Pete for taking Roberta and Sails out. I'll have to take Roberta out on my boat next time I am in Forster.

[arpie]

Hi guys

Wow! Where to start! This time last night, Pete & I were on the river, trying for jewies (or anything else ...... )and didn't get back to camp to drop me off till nearly 1am this morning! Pete then had to drive to Windsor before returning home to Blacktown! He is AMAZING!!

I arrived at Wisemans Ferry on Friday afternoon after an 'ordinary' trip down from Forster - lots of Road Work stoppages & frustrating traffic patterns, so pleased to get there & find a terrific Undercover Slab setup that included a 2 burner Gass BBQ ...... for $10 a night (one person!) I read fishing mags into the night till I dropped off to sleep, dreaming of fish to come ......

The campsite has brilliant cover for inclement weather! What more could we need ...... other than fish??

This shows both our setups (Cam with his tent & my VW Poptop Campervan) The Dog was a ring in!

Sat morning found Cam & I at a family 'do' which took us into mid afternoon, so after returning to our campsite, we quickly put our yaks into the water ...... and I had to return to camp for my 'safety flag' & stepped off the yak into knee deep mud! YUCK!!!! Not Happy Jan!!! Jumped back onto the yak & took half the mud with me! Paddled across the river (away from the ski boats) to the creek & was surprised at how shallow the main river was! My sounder was showing lots of fish but Cam's was showing very few fish ....... I prefer to believe mine! We moved from 4m water to 10m water in very quick succession! You can only imagine what this river is like when it is in flood ........ we headed up the creek, tossing sps & hbs along the way ..... lots of surface disturbances & boils but not hits! Some of the corners in the creek were very deep!

Seems you have to go up about 5km to get into the bass! As we'd left camp fairly late, we had to make sure we were back before dark, so had to turn around & go back! Found this interesting Jetty setup tho ..... think it needs a rethink!

We settled down to a basic yummy meal, lubricated by some nice red vino & hit the sack!

We expected to meet up with Pete at about 8am on Sunday morning, with Cam & I waiting at the boat ramp, rods in hand, only to find Pete (tide'n'knots) walking down from the kiosk behind us, to meet us, ....... we were looking in the wrong direction! We'd expected a water assault! We jumped into his 4WD & headed to Pete's favourite boat ramp & launched his boat.

Pete has the most amazing setup for his tinnie - he can change his seating from 2 to 3 very easily so that everyone can fish without crossing lines (an amazingly simple setup that would suit a lot of boat blackie fishos!) so we were quickly on the spot to hit the rising tide for jew, bream & flattie! Pete had also brought all the munchies & drinks ( Cam & I were very ill prepared with just water & cereal bars for a full day of fishing.......) He even brought all the bait!!!

We quickly deployed some Banana and Hawkesbury prawns on fairly 'flicky' rods immediately we were onto some small jewies! It has been about 2 -3 years since my last Jewie catch (a soapie off the breakwall.) Pete got an 'almost' legal one & he quickly went back into the drink. The colour of the small jews is just amazing! That 'soft mauve sheen' is gorgeous! This was quickly followed by heaps of small jewies (all gorgeous!) but unfortunately not legal!

This was the first time that I had tried 'serious bait fishing' in probably 2 years!! The night before, Pete's buddy had caught 4 jewies - a 48cm & 52cm and then two that were over 80cm and weighed in at 3.6kilos or about 8lb on the old scale!!! We were hoping to emulate that feat again on Sunday!!

As the day wore on, we were kept busy as we pulled on heaps of small jewies & Pete also got an undersized bream before landing a nice 'practise' one that was a keeper, so went into the bag!

We headed off to another spot where some other guys were bringing in small livies & then deploying them in the hope of a big jewie ...... but didn't see them land any. Pretty soon, we were back in our original spot & Pete hooks onto a very nice flattie of 55cm!! Into the bag he goes!! I had recently put some sunscreen onto my ankles (only bit showing) and as I was the only one not catching ........ I decided that the taste had been transferred to the bait & they didn't like it (but didn't tell the others!) I didn't catch another fish till late in the evening!!! DON'T USE SUNSCREEN and HANDLE BAIT!

Pete had packed sandwiches & buns & tea & coffee, which made our humble offerings of water & cereal bars look very ordinary! We gratefully tucked into Pete's offerings!! As the sun rose directly above us, the heat became unbearable, as there was no wind. Pete put up his Home Make Bimini/Canopy & it was brilliant!!! Tall enough at the back for everyone to stand without stooping ....... and kept us out of the suns rays! He has this other tarp that goes over the top & with the judicial use of occy straps, becomes a full 'night/storm' cover as well!! Brilliant!!

Cam, not to be forgotten, brings in a nice founder ...... amazing the size of their mouths!!

Talk about a bucket mouth! (the flounder's, not Cam's!!)

We had to head back to camp for Cam to pack up & head off home with his wife Christine ..... Pete & I had a quick hot drink & some noodles to get us ready for the afternoon/evening assault, as Pete had said he could stay out till MIDNIGHT!!!! I'd never fished that late in my life!!!!

After dropping Cam off, we returned to the boat ramp & relaunched, with Bimini & tarp installed, heading back to Spot x! Beautiful calm, clear evening with very little wind. Beautiful balmy night. Got some more prawns from the camp kiosk. Pete had re-arranged the rear of his boat so that we (him & I) were now seated genteely in Camp Chairs, watching up to 6 rods in the rod holders, waiting for them to 'go off' when struck by a fish! We couldn't miss!!

We deployed some more Hawkesbury prawns into the night & with Pete's 'all round night light' shining onto his 'white tipped' rods, any strikes were easy to detect! As we were talking & chatting so much, Pete missed a terrific strike on his 'pretty purple' Black Queen rod & shortly after, I 'struck' on my 6lb braid, only to come up against what felt like a brick wall & PING!! Busted off above the sinker!! Bummer!! Both would have been serious fish! We were a bit quiet for a while ....... then Pete's rod goes off again! That bloody purple Black QUeen (with 6lb mono) was bent over like a pretzl!! Hmmmm, Pete says ....... good strike! Hope its a jewie ...... ooh no! It's gone to ground!! Could be a stingray!! The little rod was working overtime, bent in half & slowly bringing the fish to the boat - Yep!! Bloody Stingray!! Cut the line & he was gone!

I got a nice strike & was reeling him in on my 6lb braid to find yet another small jewie ..... 1cm too small to be legal! The story of our day, really! Each of us had caught a jewie that was 'just a tiny bit' too small!! Ne'er mind! back he goes!

Pete's rod goes off again & he thinks it may be an eel or even a big muddie ..... really strange retrieve - no fight, very sluggish, heavy & unresponsive ...... until it gets to the boat & then it shows a bit more fight!

I was still expecting an eel or mud crab when this HUMONGOUS BREAM broke the surface of the river! **** me Dead!!! I said (not sure where that phrase came from, as it was not one of my regulars!!!!!) Pete nearly fell overboard ...... with laughter!!! We netted the bream & brought him in to measure & photograph him! He looked like a soccerball with fins (sorry Hodgey!!!! An upgrade on the Football with fins!!!)

Pete & 43.5cm thumper bream

One fat bream

next morning shot

18cm+ deep!!

What an awesome bream!! I was amazed at it's girth, depth & length! It is the biggest bream that I have ever seen up close!! For the rest of the night, both Pete & I were still chuckling over my amazement as the fish emerged on top of the water! What a giggle! Incredible! The fact that we hadn't landed a "Big Jewie'' had somehow been lost in the joy of landing the big Bream!! I was stoked!! Shortly after, we packed up & headed back to camp - Pete had to get to Windsor, so we both had a cuppa before Pete took off on the next step of his journey - I felt really blessed, having spent 15 hrs with Peter on & off the water & we both still had smiles on our dials! Pete even gave me his terrific fish! We will enjoy him tomorrow night, to be sure!

Both Cam & I had a terrific time, meeting up with Pete & appreciate the time & effort he put into feeding us & showing us 'his backyard', putting us onto a variety of fish & look forward to meeting up again (here or in Sydney.) Next time he is up here, we'll hit the flatties & bass in the yaks (his best buddy lives in Tuncurry!!) We all just got on so well, it was the most brilliant day all up! At 1am tho, I had to feel sorry for Pete, as he still had to travel another 2hrs+ before getting to bed!!

Oh yeah, Cam - I found out all the spots the mozzies had got me this evening (even tho I had sprayed) when I showered at home! Looks like I have measles!

I hear the BIG ONES really come on the chew in April May ....... We'll be Back!!!

Cheerio & many thanks, Pete

Roberta

I weighed the bream this afternoon on my 'pretty ordinary' kitchen scales & it shows exactly 1.5kg gutted (and it had a lot of guts!!!)

Edited October 28, 2008 by Roberta

[jahajo]

sounds like a great weekend of fishing

thats the biggest bream i have ever seen

make sure you enter him into the catch of the month

cheers hazza

[arpie]

Thanks Hazza for reminding me of that!! I'll shoot a copy off to Pete to enter it!!

Cheerio

Roberta

[glennmreid]

Glad you had a great time Roberta. That is one serious bream! Next time I am in Forster, we will definately take the boat out. Everytime I go to Forster I always seem to have boat motor issues. This will be sorted, Huey is putting a new E-TEC on the boat.

[arpie]

Hi Glenn

.....Huey is putting a new E-TEC on the boat ...... sounds like it'll be a Tim the Toolman Boat!!! Augh! Augh!! You have to have confidence in the motor, eh?

That bream was an absolute stonker!! It was only 2cm longer than the one i caught here earlier in the year, but it was 50% bigger!!! The depth of the belly & girth is amazing!

Here is a shot 'head on'

Look forward to getting together again next time you are up

Cheerio

Roberta

[loxo]

What an awesome fish, sounds like a great weekend was had by all.

[tide'n'knots]

Hi Roberta,

great report. I felt like I was there- oh thats right I was! I am glad that you and cam enjoyed the day so much. I feel slightly dissapointed that we couldnt manage a decent jew, but at this time of the year, although they are there ,it can sometimes be a little bit hit and miss with the larger ones. Oh well i promised a jew and i was able to deliver even if they were undersize!!The big bream helped to make up for the lack of size in the jewies, and the flattie wasnt to bad either. We have caught several large bream just like that one at that spot.You dont get all that many at night but thy tend to be big when you get them. Sometimes there are plenty there in the day but more like the one I caught earlier in the day.

At night time the biguns come out.

I thorougly enjoyed the day with both yourself and cam and look forward to meeting up again in the future.

tight lines.

Pete.

[hobbitt]

Thanks Hazza for reminding me of that!! I'll shoot a copy off to Pete to enter it!!

Cheerio

Roberta

Hi Roberta, a good read, and sounds as if you guys a beaut time of it.

I was wondering how you got on down there. Just loved the pics and that cracker of a bream.

[robeebee]

great report both of you guys

that Breambo is a stonker

[arpie]

Hi Hobbitt - it was just terrific! I couldn't believe there could be that much difference in wieght & condition of a fish, given only the 2cm difference in size between my biggest bream & Pete's "we get them like that quite often'' Bream!!

It really is a beautiful part of the world - last time I was there for any length of time was in 1970 when I hiked thru Dharug National Park from Wisemans Ferry to Gosford for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme ...... it didn't seem like much had changed to the riverside - a couple of bigger houses, but that was about it!! A bit like the 'Forgotten Valley'! The fish don't seem to mind the ski boats .....

We found some HUGE DEEP holes that we may try next time on the 'out tide' ...... feed a couple of fresh prawns into & see what monster takes them??

Hey Robeebee

Love your little motion picture at the bottom of the guy going overboard after catching the bigone!!

Roberta

[jewgaffer]

That was very a enjoyable report Roberta. Good work Tide'n'knots getting Roberta and Cam into the Wiseman's fish and it looks like you'll soon strike some big jewfish up there

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Hodgey]

Fantastic report on a couple of tremendous sessions That was a terrific gesture from Pete to share some of his local knowledge, which is obviously on the money!! That bream is a bloody horse I can't believe the breadth of that fish ... simply amazing. Well done Pete on showing the visitors a wonderful time

Hope you had nice weather for the family occasion on the Saturday, Roberta. Chat to you later on this week.

Cheers

Hodgey

[stricko4]

What a couple of great reports from some very generous Raiders. That bream is huge & it makes you wonder how old it must be to get to that size. They are very slow growing so it must be a fair age.

Paul

[xib]

thats an awsome bream pete i hope theres a few like that around for the classic a few years ago we go one at 45cm in the classic but got beat by 15 grams. any way sounds like Cam and Roberta ejoyed themselves and thats what its all about

matt

[VA911]

Thumper bream there!!! Top work!!!!

Love the big bream country and by the looks of it there still about. In saying that havent landed one over the 40cm mark in at least a year or so. They look amazing at that size.. wait till you guys crack a 50cm.. then the profanaties start flowing.. i can assure you all..

[arpie]

..... wait till you get a 50cm & then the profanaties start flowing......

I bet Pete can't wait to be on the boat with me for that occasion!!!!

Cam sent me his pics from the day ......

Roberta yakking the creek

Spooky Misty afternoon - you can just make out the Safety flag on my yak in the distance!

Pete got the first jewie of the day, just a couple of cm shy of being legal

This was my first jewie for the day - also a bit short - my next one was just mm short!

Pete got this nice 55cm flattie as well, which he kindly donated to Cam & Christine, along with his smaller bream

I received the STONKER bream & both Keith & I enjoyed him last night for dinner! Cooked very simply - baked whole, they sort of 'steam' in their own skin & stay very moist & tender. Drizzled with lemon juice, YUM!!

Cheerio

ROberta

I forgot to mention that on my first afternoon there on my own, I was flicking sps around the boat ramp as 2 guys prepared to take their tinny out. I asked them if they normally got good fish in the area & they said 'Sometimes.' Knowing that it was the 'Dark', I asked them if they caught prawns. They looked at me & my rod & said ...... somewhat condescendingly ....

"You'd need a net for that!!"

Like DUH!! Had to laugh tho!

Edited October 29, 2008 by Roberta

[glennmreid]

Great photos Roberta. What a bream! We are planning a 2-3 week stay in Forster in February. Probably staying at the same house.

[arpie]

Fantastic, Glenn!! We should be able to have a lot of fun!

Roberta

[plankton]

Well done involved. Sounds all too familiar - The river should be the 8th wonder of the World. Regarding the Platypus in the Creek... is true, also lots of Freshwater Turtles!! I'm glad that you guys are o.k. There is a resident half way up the creek who doesn't warm well to visitors. Been living there too long I'd say.

Edited October 29, 2008 by plankton

[johnsparky77]

Top report there raiders....

Bloody good to see the effort put into these fishing posts here....

Great read cheers

[johnv]

well what can i say well done on all the fish caught even if some were throw backs. sounds like a fun weekend had by all which is good to see.and a great report there aswell

cheers john